Monday, December 19, 2016

TOUR: The Alchemists of Loom

Initial Reaction:Her vengeance. His vision.Ari lost everything she once loved when the Five Guilds’ resistance fell to the Dragon King. Now, she uses her unparalleled gift for clockwork machinery in tandem with notoriously unscrupulous morals to contribute to a thriving underground organ market. There isn’t a place on Loom that is secure from the engineer turned thief, and her magical talents are sold to the highest bidder as long as the job defies their Dragon oppressors.

Cvareh would do anything to see his sister usurp the Dragon King and sit on the throne. His family’s house has endured the shame of being the lowest rung in the Dragons’ society for far too long. The Alchemist Guild, down on Loom, may just hold the key to putting his kin in power, if Cvareh can get to them before the Dragon King’s assassins.When Ari stumbles upon a wounded Cvareh, she sees an opportunity to slaughter an enemy and make a profit off his corpse. But the Dragon sees an opportunity to navigate Loom with the best person to get him where he wants to go.He offers her the one thing Ari can’t refuse: A wish of her greatest desire, if she brings him to the Alchemists of Loom.

I am finally back with a tour stop! It's been so long that this feels almost foreign. Today I get to share another amazing Elise Kova novel with you all. I read Air Awakens earlier this year and absolutely loved it. While I haven't gotten the chance to finish the series, I've been following Elise Kova on her social media and have been anticipating the release of The Alchemists of Loom.

The Alchemists of Loom has the same fantastic writing that Air Awakens has which introduces a fascinating world with a touch of steampunk thrown in. I loved the vivid descriptions that Elise Kova includes but she leaves enough out so that you can really use your imagination to see the world. The world of Loom has a bunch of different races and I really appreciated how humans weren't the focus. Instead, we have the Fenrhi, a group of gray skinned people who are divided into different guilds to learn specific crafts. We also have the Dragons, who rule this world and have special abilities that are connected to different parts of their body. Because of these abilities, their organs are harvested and implanted to Fenrhi who are then called Chimera.

When the story starts, we are introduced to Arianna also know as the White Wraith and she loathes the Dragons. She's in the middle of a heist when she stumbles across an injured Dragon. Thinking it to be an easy harvest, she aims to harvest his organs but he surprises her with a request: Take him to the Alchemists Guild and he'll grant her a boon. An offer that she can't resist, so Ari agrees to partner up with her enemy.

This story has no boring moment and the different relationships between the characters is so fascinating. I loved the love-hate relationship between Cvareh and Arianna and also being able to delve more into Ari's past relationships and how they shaped her. The relationship between Florence and Ari was super sweet as well though I'm not sure if it was supposed to go beyond a mentor-student relationship. Another thing I enjoyed immensely was being able to see the story from the opposite side's point of view. Through Ari, you get this twisted image of the Dragon, and while they aren't the perfect race, seeing the story from Leona's perspective opened the doors a lot.

The Alchemists of Loom is such an eye opening tale that introduces fascinating new world. Through all the adventures, the overarching idea of fighting the stereotypical mold society presents in order to live your life to the fullest and to do all the things that you were meant to do. I absolutely cannot wait for the next installment and this just encourages me to hurry and finish the Air Awakens saga.

Elise Kova has always had a profound love of fantastical worlds. Somehow, she managed to focus on the real world long enough to graduate with a Master’s in Business Administration before crawling back under her favorite writing blanket to conceptualize her next magic system. She currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and when she is not writing can be found playing video games, watching anime, or talking with readers on social media. She is the USA Today bestselling author ofthe Air Awakens Series as well as the upcoming Loom Saga (Keymaster, 2017).